Supremes Wind Up To Hit Software Patents Out Of The Park

I’ve been waiting years for US Supreme Court to do its job and kick out software patents. It’s about to happen.“The flood of software patenting that began in the 1990s has included many thousands of patents with vague and uncertain boundaries that create major litigation risks. A Supreme Court decision recognizing that software patents are essentially abstract could eliminate many of those risks.The Alice Corp. case is scheduled for oral argument on March 31. The Court will issue a decision before it ends its term in June. It’s possible that the Court will issue a course correction that removes a major barrier to technology innovation.”Hearing this month. Decision in the middle of summer. It’s going to be a great year. It would be absolutely wonderful if manufacturers of */Linux devices could shake off the last vestige of M$’s “tax”.

Just in case any of the supremes read this blog, perhaps I will close with yet another reason software patents are silly. Is a patent application patentable? That would be silly. Anything that just describes an invention is not patentable. That’s obvious and abstract. Well, software is just like a book. It’s a writing, a list of abstract ideas/information/bits. The software itself, the code, the machine-instructions are just the book, contents and words contained in the software. No one can patent that. It’s abstract. It’s mathematical. It lacks any kind of innovation, although there may be some skill involved in a good productions. Let’s get over this silly idea that software is patentable. It’s not. Putting some ideas about how something is already done in the real world into a machine and calling it an invention is not patentable either. It’s obvious to anyone skilled in the art. If not, the software would not work because computers only work on obvious things, ones and zeros, truth and falsity. Supremes, go for it!

About Robert Pogson

I am a retired teacher in Canada. I taught in the subject areas where I have worked for almost forty years: maths, physics, chemistry and computers. I love hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, too.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.